St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

Gooey Butter Cake is a rich coffee cake that is loved by St. Louis natives, the Butter Institute of America, and Ben. There are several apocryphal stories regarding its origins, but I'll let you find them on Wikipedia. I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and she got it, ironically, from the New York Times. I hadn't really planned to blog this one, but Ben says this is one of the three cakes he will request for his birthday so I thought I'd better record it.

The cake is made in two stages: first you make a sweet bread dough and let it rise, then you make a custard-like topping and bake. If you have a stand mixer I recommend using it. Otherwise you will need a lot of elbow grease for this one.

3 Tablespoons milk at room temperature
2 Tablespoons warm water
1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
Mix yeast into milk and water and let sit for a few minutes, yeast will form little bubbles.

6 tablespoons butter at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Cream together.

1 egg (we've been getting extra large eggs -- recommended)
Beat in to butter and sugar mixture.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Alternate adding flour and milk/water/yeast mixture. Continue to stir for around 10 minutes. This is where the elbow grease comes in. Dough will form into a soft and cohesive ball. When done mixing, spread out into a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish. Let rise at room temperature for 3 hours. Dough should double, but I find it's hard to tell when it's in the dish.

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cream together. 

1 egg
Beat in egg.

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Add, alternating wet ingredients and flour. Spread over risen dough. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes (baking time based on my increasingly suspect oven, take a peak after 30 or 35 minutes).